IBD Nightmares? You Aren’t Alone

Most people with IBD have realized that stressful situations are often a prelude to a flare – or they can make flares worse. However, a recent study from Switzerland shows that the emotional impact of Crohn’s disease and its resulting treatments may cause more than just average stress – it can also result in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is most often associated with people who have survived trauma, such as violent acts, natural disasters, or emergency situations. PTSD changes the way the body reacts to stress by altering the neurotransmitters that the body uses to signal through the nervous system, which can make you hypersensitive to situations in the future.

In the Swiss study, nearly 20% of the 600 adults assessed were found to suffer from PTSD symptoms, which included re-experiencing symptoms through dreams about Crohn’s disease, or avoiding thinking, talking, or having feelings about Crohn’s altogether. Other symptoms of PTSD include avoiding places or behaviors that remind you of a specific memory, being unable to remember major parts of things that were traumatizing, or having an expectation that your future will be restricted in ways that are not normal to others.

After assessing Crohn’s patients’ scores from a self-reported questionnaire, the researchers followed the patients for 18 months. They found that patients with higher PTSD scores were 4 times more likely to experience a worsening of their disease compared to those with low PTSD scores. This suggests that there may be cycles between stress leading to disease, then more stress, and on and on.

From my experiences and through talking to others, I absolutely believe that there is a link between IBD and PTSD, but I had never really thought of classifying these reactions as PTSD. I had nightmares for several months after I had surgery, and don’t remember large chunks of several months around my hospitalization. Over the years, I don’t have the same reactions that I once did to certain IBD-associated things. However, I avoid cranberries like the plague (cranberry juice mixed with barium, ugh), and I still get a little anxious whenever I’m in the neighborhood of a hospital that I associate with the “bad” days of having Crohn’s.

If you feel like you might be having some of these symptoms, talk to your gastroenterologist, who can refer you to talk to someone that might be able to help. Even with all of the medications available to prevent relapse, talking to a therapist or getting counseling could be a small step in preventing your IBD from getting worse.